Fender flares (for wheel wells), in general, are typically used in various industries (Ambulances, Buses, Truck body's, Shuttles, Fire Trucks, RV's, and more) for fender protection and/or cosmetic purposes around a fender of the vehicle. These fender flare parts are typically installed using a separate metal strip and/or bolts/washers/nuts to securely fasten them to the fender.
Such installation process can be very difficult and labor intensive, sometimes utilizing two operators to install per fender. For example, prior art installation processes require the use of steel templates to be clamped (4-5 clamps around the fender) with the rubber flare onto the fender. The templates have holes identifying where to drill holes in the fender. Holes have to be drilled into the fender (minimum 8, and up to 18 per fender). Once the holes are drilled, at least one operator has to hold the 2-foot, heavy extrusion while the other operator drills the rubber fender flare and aligns the part to the first hole, and inserts the metal support strip and/or bolts/washers/nuts for secure attachment. The template is then removed. This tedious and laborious process has to be performed repeatedly for each fender, which can take a minimum of approximately 20 minutes per fender. Furthermore, the drilled holes through the fender for the bolts are a source for rust over time.
In addition, the manufacturing process is tedious. To manufacture fender flares, the raw rubber is extruded in coils (radiused) onto flat plates. For example, there may be approximately 100 feet per plate. Those plates are then placed onto racks, which are then wheeled into an autoclave for curing under high temperature and pressure. As such, the current manufacturing process is a two-step method. Thus, the part is already in “radius” when shipped to customer in 100-foot coils.
For the foregoing reasons there is a need for a fender flare that is easy to manufacture and install without the potential for additional damage to the vehicle.